Luke Tay

Luke established an independent strategic foresight practice in 2021, building on two decades of “been there, done that” service in the transport and agrifood domains of the Singapore public sector – across a breadth of leadership and foresight-focussed roles in policy, planning, international relations, national security, operations, infrastructure, risk management, corporate governance, strategic communications, and people development.

Luke’s work has involved engagement with a plethora of political, policy, enterprise, and civil society actors and organisations across Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania, as well as at international bodies including the G20, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UNDP, APEC, and ASEAN – imparting perspectives and experiences which have spurred his passion to advance international and cross-sectoral dialogue and collaboration for sustainable development.

Luke believes intensely in the power of futures thinking to spark technological, enterprise, policy, and social innovation, and co-create empowering new perspectives, narratives and visions that transform nations, organisations, and communities. In essence, Luke’s forte is to help stakeholders discern emerging drivers and scenarios of change in and beyond their fields, guide reflection and dialogue on their implications, and facilitate ideation and formulation of future-ready plans and success strategies. To this end, he flexes inter-disciplinary foresight methods, and his broad networks and experience, taking a holistic approach looking at implications, opportunities, and insights applicable at individual, organisational and ecosystem levels.

Beyond foresight and strategy work, additional focus areas include public policy best practice and benchmarking, facilitating cross-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration, advisory roles in complex project planning, policy and strategy reviews, and new product innovation, and general political/strategic/comms advisory to policymakers.

Domain wise, Luke’s experience and interests include the fields of food-energy-water security, urban policy and planning, transport and supply chains, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and public policy, multilateral cooperation, and international development issues in the Indo-Pacific, and the Global South – inflected by geopolitical turbulence and unsettled earth systems, as well as emerging technological possibilities. Topically, Luke’s work and advisory roles have addressed, inter alia, future air transport scenarios; food production and supply futures; the conceptualisation of food-smart cities with optimised circularity, resource take, and nutritional outcomes; food (mis)information and hybrid conflict; and technological imperatives for the future food system – including blue economy futures and the prospects for terraforming, geoengineering, and bioengineering.

Luke holds a BA in History and International Relations and an MA in Political Science, summa cum laude and with phi beta kappa honours from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Member of the World Futures Studies Federation, and a Global Advisory Board member of the Philippine Futures Thinking Society.